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I don't know if you were following what happened at the Wisconsin Capitol last night, but here is a summary:

The Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines to put forward an
education budget that will harm our kids into perpetuity. There IS
increased funding (as opposed to the $150/pupil cuts the Governor
wanted), but the increase is illusory; expansion of vouchers and changes
to the funding formula mean that it's difficult to tell how much of the
"increase" will actually go to public schools. Waiting for the fiscal
analysis of that. In the meantime, here's how Wisconsin schools were
sold out from under you while you were sleeping:

The budget
includes the worst of what thousands of parents, school board members,
administrators, advocacy groups, and grassroots local citizens spoke out
against in droves at the hearings and in writing over the past months.
In the guise of giving an increase to the public school budget, it
creates a new, complicated, confusing & unwanted way of "accounting"
for private voucher school students that allows voucher money to be
laundered through the public school budget. Districts that do not have
voucher schools will lose even more money than they already do, and the
voucher money will continue to come "off the top" as the program is
expanded statewide. All over the state, communities will be forced to go
to referendum and raise taxes to fund local schools. Many of these
referenda will fail. The JFC voted against its constitutional obligation
to fund public education at a level that allows uniform instruction at
all schools. We are a state of haves and have-nots, and the "haves" got
a shiny new gift last night.

It also includes two unconscionable and highly controversial measures:

Inclusion of the Special Needs Vouchers that every single disability
rights advocacy group in Wisconsin opposes and that are the heart of an
ALEC/AFC campaign to get more public money into private schools by
taking advantage of our most vulnerable kids. Private schools do not
have to follow federal regulations and discriminate regularly against
kids with special needs. They are also not required by the bill to use
the vouchers to meet the needs of the children they're intended to
serve. It is the ugliest of entitlements and it was slipped into the
budget at the final hour, with no public hearing, because it is the
weakest chink in their armor and they knew that public outrage would be
widespread, as it was in previous years when the proposal failed on
every attempt after much dissent.

Inclusion of a proposal to
"phase in" takeover of the highest poverty, lowest performing Milwaukee
Public Schools by revoking local control - a few schools at a time, more
each year. This is a perverse, unvetted, ill-considered idea that has
virtually NO local support, involved NO local leaders, and was given NO
forum whatsoever for public input or community engagement. It will
bankrupt MPS. It is the most paternalistic "we know best" of ideas and
doomed to fail, as it provides no funds for the "wrap around services"
it claims it will provide, and essentially hands public property over to
privateers despite their having no track record of greater success in
working with high-need schools, and despite the failures of similar
takeover programs in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans & Philadelphia.
The kicker for the rest of the state, who will pay the tab for this, is
that the language of the bill allows for replication of the program in
other large cities - Racine and Madison will be next. Under the plan,
public schools will be "managed" by an appointed czar and the local
community/democratically elected school board will have no say in their
governance as they're converted into a charter or even a private school,
though a provision demands no tuition can be charged. Constitutionality
is questionable to say the least. In the meantime, the bill would
"help" just a few of the schools that most need help and the budget does
nothing to meet the needs and call for fair funding and much-needed
services and staffing for high-poverty schools. It is both a slap in
the face of Milwaukee and a message to the rest of the state that local
control and democracy have no place in the "business" of the school
privatization movement.

Finally, the 51 items in the Omnibus
Bill included all sorts of other things that will boggle your mind.
Like allowing people with a bachelor's degree and "experience" to become
licensed teachers. And a Jim Crow-style Civics Test that will be
required for graduation (despite the fact that we already have a civics
requirement in Wisconsin). And changing the current school "report
card" system to a star rating system (not joking). And allowing charter
and voucher schools to take different tests than the ones required for
public schools so that all of these measures can be used to cook the
books and feed the hoax that our beloved public schools underperform the
schools that are stealing their funding. And much, more more. Read the
whole thing here: http://wispolitics.com/1006/150519Motion457.pdf

I just hope everyone gets the message from that civics test: democracy
means you vote. And elections sure do have consequences.

Education is not a partisan issue. That was brutally clear when citizens of every stripe testified at the JFC hearings, and school districts and boards all over the state spoke as one to let the JFC know exactly what they need and want to keep our schools great. It's brutally clear in the latest polls that show public education is the #1 issue for Wisconsin taxpayers and 78% oppose cuts to schools. For the first time ever, a majority would rather see a raise in taxes than cutting funds to schools.

Given the climate of bipartisan consensus in the state, it was shocking to see party line votes on a budget that so clearly is deaf to the will of the people last night. Every single person in this state, regardless of party or politics, should be outraged at these attacks on local control and the democratic process.

Be
prepared to fight these things tooth and nail. Organize locally. Speak up and speak out and speak loudly. They're not law until the
governor signs the bill.

There is hope -- when we speak as one, we
cannot be ignored. Our children have never needed us to speak up more.

Action alert:

If you're in Milwaukee, and you want to learn more about how to stop the MPS takeover, you can attend events TONIGHT (Wed. 5/20) on both the North and South sides:

Today is a statewide EDUCATION DAY OF ACTION, as the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee will take up the education budget tomorrow - Tues. May 19, 2015. Please contact members of the committee asap and share your concerns. My own letter is below - feel free to copy/paste or use it as inspiration.

When I sent my letter, I cc'd my own representatives and Governor Walker (govgeneral@wisconsin.gov),

Contact information for members of the JFC follows.

Dear JFC members,
I am writing to share my concerns about the education budget and the
rumors that the proposal to takeover Milwaukee Public Schools could be
included in the budget. I strongly oppose this anti-democratic measure,
and ask the JFC to restore and increase funding to public schools
through the following:

INCREASE PER-PUPIL FUNDING and
INCREASE THE REVENUE CAP. Stopping the cuts does not meet the needs of
our students - ZERO is still a cut. Restore the $150/pupil cut in
special categorical aid and increase the education budget at least to an
amount that keeps up with inflation.

REMOVE THE CHARTER
SCHOOL LEGISLATION FROM THE BUDGET. This chartering authority is an
attack on local control. Local citizens should have a say in where
their money goes and independent charters take money from traditional
public schools at the expense of students and taxpayers. Who is asking
for this? It is certainly not the school districts or parents of
Wisconsin.

DROP THE EXPANSION OF STATEWIDE VOUCHERS PROGRAM
WISCONSIN DOES NOT WANT AND CAN'T AFFORD.The latest application numbers
from DPI show that the expanded program is only helping students who
already attend private religious schools, not the "poor children" in
"failing schools" they supposedly are intended to serve. I reject the
hoax that our schools are failing, and call on the JFC to drop voucher
expansion from the budget. Wisconsin DOES NOT WANT and CANNOT AFFORD
more vouchers. Invest in public schools first, as the will of the people
demands.

REMOVE NON-FISCAL EDUCATION ITEMS FROM THE BUDGET
Please remove the dangerous, irresponsible proposal to license anyone
with "experience" and a bachelor's degree as a teacher, all items
related to accountability/testing provisions, the removal of the
optional participation in the integration program that ensures our
schools are not segregated by race, etc. These items have no place in
the budget and represent an attempt to sneak policy past the public
without fair hearing.

REJECT THE PROPOSAL TO TAKEOVER MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Education is a non-partisan issue. 78% of Wisconsinites oppose cuts to
public schools and the majority would rather see taxes go up than cuts
to schools (Marquette University poll). Please listen to the people and
fully support the public schools that are the heart of our communities.

the MoD motto:

If you don't have anything nice to say, you've identified a topic about which you are morally obligated to speak.Raise your hand if you're not afraid to ask a question.Raise your voice if you're not afraid of free speech.Raise some hell if you're not afraid to change the world.

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